1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a configuration of a fuel tank in a vehicle, in which the fuel tank is disposed on a lower face of a floor panel beneath a driver's seat and a passenger's seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-85382 discloses an arrangement in which a fuel tank conventionally disposed on a lower face of a floor panel beneath a rear seat is moved to a lower face of a floor panel beneath a front seat, whereby the degree of freedom in arranging the rear seat is increased to effectively utilize a space in a rear part of the vehicle body.
However, if the fuel tank is disposed on the lower face of the floor panel beneath the front seat, not only is it difficult to ensure that the fuel tank has a sufficient capacity, but also the distance from a fuel filler inlet in a rear part of the vehicle body to the fuel tank increases. Therefore, a fuel supply pipe providing a connection between the fuel filler inlet and the fuel tank inevitably becomes long, and the fuel feed resistance against fuel passing through the fuel supply pipe increases, thus resulting in a possibility that smooth feeding of fuel might be prevented. In particular, in an arrangement in which, during refueling, a mixture of evaporated fuel and air within the fuel tank is supplied to a canister, and the evaporated fuel is adsorbed by the canister so that only the air is discharged to the atmosphere, the fuel feed resistance is increased by an amount corresponding to the flow resistance in the canister. Thus, it is desirable for the fuel feed resistance of fuel supply pipe to be as low as possible.